Winter's Howl is a Wonder Weapon introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is found in "Five" and the Call of Duty: Black Opsversion of Verruckt. It fires a blizzard that causes ice-based effects on the zombies. After a predetermined amount of hits (it takes more on later rounds, and it takes less with the Pack-A-Punched version), a zombie begins to create frost in the water vapor in the air and slows down, additionally doing damage. If the zombie is hit again while slowed, it is stopped in its tracks and is encased in an ice cube. The zombie is immediately dead when it has been frozen. If left for a few seconds, the "ice cube" will shatter, but it can also be shattered by shooting it or walking through it. The normal version holds 6 rounds and has 24 spare rounds. It can be Pack-a-Punched to become Winter's Fury. The Winter's Fury has 9 freeze blasts per magazine with 36 spare blasts, with a longer freeze time and more power.

The Winter's Howl and its upgraded version, the Winter's Fury, are best used as support or emergency weapons. The range is very long, but there is a small delay before the shot reaches its target, similar to the Ray Gun and explosive weapons. The effect is also vision-blocking, and can be detrimental to the aim of teammates. As rounds progress it takes more shots to completely freeze a zombie. By round 50, it can take up to 2 magazines to completely freeze one zombie.

Trivia

  • If the player shoots a normal crawling zombie with a Winter's Howl, and then stabs it, it will die as if it was a standing zombie.
  • There is an unusable Winter's Howl sitting on one of the desks in the basement of "Five" Across from it is a target that has a coating of ice, suggesting that it was tested, if not developed, at the Pentagon.
  • Both the Winter's Howl and Winter's Fury push the player back when fired, similar to the Ray Gun.
  • On the left side of the gun, the casing is removed, exposing circuitry. This implies that it is still being developed.
  • Zombies frozen solid (turned into "ice cubes") are technically dead even before they shatter, as a round may end while they are still frozen.
    • The freeze effect can also be seen in Call of the Dead, where if a zombie is killed while it's in a pool of water, an ice cube appears around it.
  • Takeo is seen wielding the Winter's Howl in the poster for Ascension even though it is never seen in Ascension.
  • The strange thing about this weapon is that it can be fired through the glass windows in "Five" without damaging them. It will still hit zombies behind the window, even if the glass has been untouched. It will not, however, go through the door that leads to the "Panic Room".
  • The Winter's Howl, along with its Pack-a-Punched version, slows down the Pentagon Thief and will damage him significantly. However, he cannot be frozen into an "ice cube."
  • It is possible for two players to have the Winter's Howl at the same time. The only known way of doing this is by two or more players going to separate mystery boxes during a fire sale before anyone has gotten the Winter's Howl. If they are lucky, the Winter's Howl can appear in both boxes at the same time allowing more than one person to have the Winter's Howl. (This cannot happen in Verruckt due to the fact that it is impossible to obtain a Fire Sale)
  • The pick-up icon is an M1911's since the gun wasn't meant to be dropped (Seen via Console commands).